FINALLY!! the leo i've been searching for all my life

[Lucky Lager]

well, the wife & kids were gone all day, so....why not hit the surf?
i was in el segundo last week & checked out dockweiler. bummed that i didn't have my gear with me, i told myself i'd have to make the trip back down there when i had the chance.

my brother & i arrived at grey light, but my brother forgot to get his ocean enhancement stamp, so we headed south to find a tackle shop & get his tag.

got back to the spot at 0700 & geared up. we both started casting & walking south. i made a couple long casts parallel with the beach, just behind the breakers & on the second long cast...nice hit...fish on.

in the first couple minutes, this fish had me fooled into thinking i had a mid sized sngf on the end of my line. but 30 minutes later, i knew it was something big. i kept thinking "it's gotta be my leo", but kept telling myself "don't jinx it". this fish was taking me south, then north, then into the blue. i had 150yds of 20lb braid, backed by 200yds of 20lb mono & nearly got spooled 3 times. during the battle, a bait & waiter pulled up a bucket & started throwing out. he had to pull his bait in a few times to let me cross "his" area :Rolls Eyes: one of the times he casted right over my line. i coordinated the 'ol over under manuver....but seriously considered taking my dykes to his line. after that one, he finally decided to let me finish what i had started.

my brother, who was following me up & down the coast taking pictures, decided to make a few casts. he hooked up with something nice, but brought back a clean cut end of a line & no LC. mystery fish, maybe another leo?

here's some action shots, (all photos are thanks to my brother)
34850
34851
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this may have been the reason it was so hard to turn him
34853
taped out at 56". anyone have any guestimations on a weight? i failed to get the girth
34854
took a total of 1hr 15min to get it to shore
34855

landed thanks to my Abu Garcia 6500C3, Ambassedour 7'M rod & the IMA Heavy Surfer90 (Cotton Candy)

haven't uploaded the release video yet, but i'll post it here when i do.

thanks for reading, i'm still super pumped. i've been on the hunt for a leo for a long time & can't believe my first one was such a great one!

here's the release.
http://youtu.be/-a4izgGkoYU

[Cartman]

Congratulations. You must have been extremely pumped. That is a beautiful fish. Plus, it matches your hat!

[Armofisher818]

Nice man I could imagine how happy you would've been good job out there

[Mr_Dunev]

That is a sweet fish!!! I am glad you had a great day, and you caught them on the ima's too! :Thumbs Up: Next time just give me a little more notice and I'll see if I can join you.

Thanks for the report,
Lucas

[Lucky Lager]

That is a sweet fish!!! I am glad you had a great day, and you caught them on the ima's too! :Thumbs Up: Next time just give me a little more notice and I'll see if I can join you.

Thanks for the report,
Lucas

Yea, sorry about that. I wasn't aware that the wife & kids were going to be gone until the day before...or maybe she told me & didn't listen. That happens a lot, haha

[bachiboy]

Helluva fish! Nicely done and great read. Congratulations!!!

[Lucky Lager]

got the release uploaded:

http://youtu.be/-a4izgGkoYU

[Tammyn77]

Wow! That's awesome! Nice job :Big Grin:

[tree]

Awesome Fish!!!!!

[murrieta angler]

Sweet Leo Jim!
An hour and fifteen must have seemed like forever...:Rolls Eyes:
Definately one of the better looking species from the ocean.
Thanks for sharing,
Robert
<><

[SP Dan]

Hey there Lucky Lager,

"DUDE........an hour and fifteen minutes"!! :EyePop: I was having to stop and shake my arm.... when I battled my Stripped Bass for 20 minutes!
A 56" Leo....WTG!! A shark from the surf to be proud of sir!

Thanx for the fun read with pic's! :Cool:

SP Dan <"))><

[smokehound]

Nice! Those leos are insane. Have such a big heavy fish headshake is an adrenaline rush!

[Lucky Lager]

Sweet Leo Jim!
An hour and fifteen must have seemed like forever...:Rolls Eyes:
Definately one of the better looking species from the ocean.
Thanks for sharing,
Robert
<><

It did, my left arm was beat after that. When it was all over, I told my brother that I should have timed the whole thing...he promptly replied "hour & fifteen". I had to take a break, and when I started throwing again, I was kinda hoping I wouldn't hook another one like that, haha. If I did, I was going to pass it off to my brother :lol:

[bloox8]

Congrats on the leo!! I bet it feels freakin great to finally beach that monster Lol! I've seen several leo fights, but have yet to see anyone beach it in person (I lost one too :Sad: ) The line or hook always ends up poppin off around 20 minutes into the fight lol. Took 5 minutes for mine to pop off. I need to pull up one of these babies this year. It'll be awesome if I got it on a non-foul hook too!!!

Thanks for the read. Lookin forward to see your next fish :Sad:


Thien

[Lucky Lager]

Congrats on the leo!! I bet it feels freakin great to finally beach that monster Lol! I've seen several leo fights, but have yet to see anyone beach it in person (I lost one too :Sad: ) The line or hook always ends up poppin off around 20 minutes into the fight lol. Took 5 minutes for mine to pop off. I need to pull up one of these babies this year. It'll be awesome if I got it on a non-foul hook too!!!

Thanks for the read. Lookin forward to see your next fish :Sad:


Thien


thanks! it was a blast.
i couldn't believe this one stayed on foul hooked. when i finally got it in, there was only one barb still holding it.
it was hooked just behind the mouth. i wonder if they have a habbit of whacking their prey against the sand to stun them, of if it was actually trying to bite it? this is my first one, so i'll need to get a few more see if there's a pattern.

[Lucky Lager]

Hey there Lucky Lager,

"DUDE........an hour and fifteen minutes"!! :EyePop: I was having to stop and shake my arm.... when I battled my Stripped Bass for 20 minutes!
A 56" Leo....WTG!! A shark from the surf to be proud of sir!

Thanx for the fun read with pic's! :Cool:

SP Dan <"))><

thanks dan, i definatly had to shake my arm out a few times. my forearm is still sore & i have a nice burise on the inside of my left thumb from the reel :LOL:
well worth it to check that leo off of my "to catch" list from the surf.
next on the list, a legal butt & a line side. striper is what i fish for the most, but from the ca aquaduct. it's only a couple miles from my front door, so that's where i do most of my fishing. been pulling out mostly 14" to 22"ers lately, but i did manage a 27" 8.6lb'er a few weeks ago.
here's a smaller model that my son pulled out http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?63362-my-boy-s-first-duct-striper
if you're ever up towards the antelope valley, hit me up & i'll give you a head's up on aqueduct fishing for mr stripey :)

[Wingnut]

Awesome looking Leopard Shark Jim. They are absolute freight trains when they get that big. :Shocked:
Most Leos caught on artificials are foul hooked one way or another. Usually on the tail or dorsal fin. But it looks like yours took a swipe at it though. :Wink:
Great job landing that beauty and thanks for the report. :Big Grin:

[iLLest]

Sweet job on landing the Leo, those suckers pull real nice.
An hour is a looooong time for a landing, kudos for sticking through it.

[Lucky Lager]

Sweet job on landing the Leo, those suckers pull real nice.
An hour is a looooong time for a landing, kudos for sticking through it.

there was a few times where i felt like tightening up the drag & horsing it in, especially when it felt like i had it all tired out.
but, i was wrong about that a few times & it made some good runs. so i had to just stick it out & be patient....tougher than i imagined it would be, lol.
really glad i took my time though, because when it finally hit the beach, there was only 1 hook left in it. and i would have been pretty unhappy with myself it i lost it after all that.

[Jaysuuun]

Nice job. That's a nice looking leo. Sounds like it put up one helluva fight!

[DotA]

i once caught a 4ft leo from san onofe lol i beached him in 20-30mins i didnt care i had braided line........ i had to run into the surf and grab his tail to drag him in cus he didnt wanna go head first in the surf... i dont have any pics but the memory :D my lure was a yo-zuri edge minnow the sinking kind in all white and a chartreuse head he was caught on his gills btw

[Lucky Lager]

i once caught a 4ft leo from san onofe lol i beached him in 20-30mins i didnt care i had braided line........ i had to run into the surf and grab his tail to drag him in cus he didnt wanna go head first in the surf... i dont have any pics but the memory :D my lure was a yo-zuri edge minnow the sinking kind in all white and a chartreuse head he was caught on his gills btw

i had to grab mine the same way, he kept trying to head back out to sea
35082

[DotA]

I had to take a break, and when I started throwing again, I was kinda hoping I wouldn't hook another one like that, haha. If I did, I was going to pass it off to my brother :lol:

lol funny... first cast i hooked onto him and then after that i had to lay down for about 10-15mins cus i was beat!!

[DotA]

i had to grab mine the same way, he kept trying to head back out to sea
35082


rofl when i grabed him by his tail he turned around and almost got ahold of my leg so i let go but then 2nd time i grab and hella ran to the beach

[Lucky Lager]

rofl when i grabed him by his tail he turned around and almost got ahold of my leg so i let go but then 2nd time i grab and hella ran to the beach

a buddy of mine had told me to make sure i held on tight if i ever tail-grabbed one, because they have rough skin & he'd been roughed up by them in the past....so when i grabbed that tail, i gave it the 'ol death grip. it turned it's head toward me too, but i just swung it away from my leg, but toward the direction that it turned so i wouldn't pull the business end into myself.
it was much slimier than i expected. i expected a more sand paper like sensation.

[Which Way Out]

Great CPR and one to remember for sure.

Didn't you fish HGlll? I think we talked on the beach.
WWO Bill

[Lucky Lager]

Great CPR and one to remember for sure.

Didn't you fish HGlll? I think we talked on the beach.
WWO Bill

Yes, I fished HG III....and had a blast!
I tried to get my buddies to come too, but they all had things to do. I think they'll try harder to make the next one after hearing all my stories, lol.
Thanks again to all of you who put that event on. It was really cool to put some faces to all the screen names, haha.
I think Next time I'll spend a little less time on the water & a little more time chatting it up with you guys & pick your brains on a few theories I have ;)

[flyngby]

Jim,

Sorry for the late response! Thought I had replied my last goround!

That's a beast to pull from the surf!

Well done!!

Steve http://planetsmilies.net/person-smiley-1122.gif

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z286/flyngby/PiercesPerch.jpg

[Lucky Lager]

Jim,

Sorry for the late response! Thought I had replied my last goround!

That's a beast to pull from the surf!

Well done!!

Steve http://planetsmilies.net/person-smiley-1122.gif

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z286/flyngby/PiercesPerch.jpg

thanks steve,
it was a lot of work, but a lot of fun.
not knowing what it was until i caught a glimps of it surfing a wave, walking the fine line of not farming it & trying to gain some line, shaking the cramps out of my arm, and having it walk me up & down the beach on a beautiful day....yea, i'd do that "work" again, haha